


Sweets

by Amelia_Bennet



Series: In-Between [2]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Interdimensional Travel, Mentioned Zen | Ryu Hyun, Romance, liminal space, mysmehalloweek, zen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 03:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16421630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_Bennet/pseuds/Amelia_Bennet
Summary: It was a fluke or so you tell yourself after running into Yoosung at the Pumpkin farm. So a little trip the Confectionary Store is in order after that last interdimensional incident. Just like magic, you pass through again but this time you come face to face with the piercing gaze of Hyun Ryu.





	Sweets

**Author's Note:**

> My second submission for the 2018 Mysme Halloweek! Prompt: Sweets. Again this story can be read alone but it does mention Pumpkin!

Your bed is soft and the house is quiet. No one is home, so you curl up even tighter under the bed covers. The cell phone next to you is silent with no notifications from the game or from your friends.

Picking up the phone and unlocking it, your thumb hovers over the app for a moment before clicking on it. The screen turns black and remains that way, there was still no voice saying Cheritz. The game has been broken since the day that you went to the pumpkin farm.

Sitting up, you flip through your camera roll for the millionth time. The pictures were still there from that fateful day. Part of you wonders how time passes on that side and if it’s been months since Yoosung last saw you. Staring at the photos your rational side tries to explain the experience all over again.

The boy in the picture was just a really good cosplayer and was live role-playing. That was the most rational explanation that your mind could come up with.

Closing your eyes, you remember that sunny afternoon and how the hill was surrounded by pumpkins. Yoosung would point at tiny little pumpkins and call them baby pumpkins that still needed to grow up.

You take a hard look at the photo he took with you and notice how his eyes seemed to shimmer like an amethyst stone. It was so wide and expressive, you felt like you could always read his mind.

“Hey Mc, can I get your contact?”

You look out the window, it was another sunny October day, but your attention is back on the phone. You leave the camera roll and start scrolling through contacts, reading all the names of each person before stopping at his.

Yoosung. Your thumb clicks on his name and on the number.

The phone rings for a moment before you hear the voice of the automated message.

_The number you have dialed does not exist._

You end the call and try again, but the message is always the same. Throwing off the covers, you decide it was time to start the day. You head to the washroom and begin getting ready.

An hour passes when you finish and return back to the charging phone on the nightstand. It was time to stop thinking about that one off incident. Your mind wanders to the confectionary store and whether the Halloween sweets were being displayed yet.

You scroll through Instagram and stare longingly at the cute skeleton cookies and poisoned candy apple. Well at least you knew what you wanted to do today, you message your friend, asking if she wanted to meet you there.

_Sorry, I have a volunteer meeting today._

Well, it looks like it was a solo trip. You grab your satchel and coat from the closet and head to the door but just as you’re about to leave you spot your favourite baseball hat on the table. You glance outside and see that this sunny day was cloudless and blindingly bright. You reach for the cap and wear it. Now that you had everything, it was time to head out.

The travel time was pretty short, and you managed to listen to a few of your favourite songs as you finally arrived at the quaint looking confectionary store. It was an old Fire Hall transformed into a confectionary. Running to the glass case, you start taking photos of the newest Halloween desserts and send them to your friend to see.

_Oooh, they look so good!_

You tuck the phone away and spend an agonizing amount of time trying to decide which one to take home. You decide on the creepy cake and a few macarons, you wanted your family to try it out as well.

The cashier bags it up in a fire hydrant red paper bag while you pay. She thanks you and you finally head outside and marvel at the cobbled stone streets and how the old style lamps give the area a nice time travelers vibe to it. There was a gazebo close by that you could sit in and relax at, so you make your way there.

You cross the street when the road was clear and begin the trek to the Gazebo, it was in the middle of the park close by. So you pull your hat down to keep the sun from bothering your eyes and walk at a leisurely pace towards it. The park has a treeline past the Gazebo, and you are once again thinking about that incident.

A strong gust of wind blows past you, and your hat goes flying off. You were not going to lose your favourite hat! So you give chase to the blasted thing, the cap for a moment flashes into the image of the pumpkin and a moment of deja vu washes over you as you try grabbing it from this mischievous wind.

The hat is dancing and dodging, and you’re sure that the thing has got to be possessed, but it's your expensive baseball hat. So you continue to run after it on this safe and familiar pavement. You wanted to record this incident but knew that you would not be able to snatch it up and record at the same time since you were still holding the sweets bag.

Your possessed hat stops running away and lands at someone’s feet. You watch delicate alabaster fingers pick up the hat. Your eyes follow the hand up towards the face of this person, and you hear it again.

The drumming of your heart beating loudly in your ears. Snow white hair, ruby red eyes…

Your mouth feels dry and the blood circulation to your hands seem to have stopped because it feels ice cold and clammy.

You also mentally start to berate yourself for describing him like that because at this rate you were going to sound like Bella Swan fawning over beautiful people. The “stranger” looks at you and gives a blinding smile.

They head towards you holding the hat, your feet feels like vines have grown all around them. You couldn’t move and wait for him to reach you.

You swear that you are going insane again, that this was another fit of madness. Because this was Hyun Ryu aka Zen from the RFA. His white ponytail swishes in the wind as he makes his way to you in dramatic fashion.

“Hi, there!” he greets. His eyes, unlike Yoosung, are dull and you notice how his expression is practiced. But your voice is lost and he seems to be thrilled at this reaction, like a flower basking in the light.

“Ah, it seems my beauty has stunned another person.” He chuckles for a moment and grabs hold of your cold hands. His eyebrows furrow for a moment probably because of how cold your hands are, but he moves past this and gives you another movie star smile.

“Here, I think this is yours,” he places the hat in your hand and let's go.

Your voice is still missing because despite hearing in-game from him just how beautiful he was. It was another thing to see it in “real life”? Or maybe this could be the work of October Magic again.

Just as your about to speak to him, he bids you farewell and starts walking away. You needed to talk to him and ask about Yoosung and the rest of the RFA. It would give insight into how all this dimensional overlap was working.

Just as you open your mouth to call out to him. You hear the high pitched shrieks coming from a distance.

“ZENNY!”

Zenny? That was MC’s nickname for him on her route. Could this be her? No, there were too many voices. From a distance, you see a group of fans running down the pavement towards you and him.

His shoulders are tense as he looks around for a place to hide. This human reaction wakes you from your trance-like state, and your senses start to come back to you. You reach out for his hands and take hold of it. His hands, it doesn’t disappear and the illusion of Zen is still intact. Real or not you had to do something.

His attention turns back to you, and his eyes are wide and is that a faint blush? You decide not to think about it but instead hand him back the hat.

“Put it on,” you command, and he does so without hesitation. You nod and begin the desperate sprint towards the treeline. The sound of autumn leave crunch under your boots but you drag him deep in the wooded area to lose the fangirls.

They’re hot on your trail, the distant sounds of camera clicking from the fangirls are heard. They were probably taking pictures of him as he ran away. You veer right and pull him towards the bigger trees. There’s a cavity in one of the trees, and you point towards it. Your raspy sounding voice orders him to hide in there. This must be a regular for him because he gets into the tree cavity without questioning it.

Just as you're about to make a run to another tree to hide, you are pulled by him into the tree as well. His muscular arms pull you close, you tuck your feet into the tree so the rabid fangirls wouldn’t spot you.

As you lean back into his chest, you hear your heart now hammering even louder than before. How is it possible you could feel every muscle beneath the sweater he was wearing. You're surrounded by his scent of natural musk and cigarettes.

There was something intoxicating being so close to him. This thought is broken by the distant shouts of the fangirls retreating back.

“Phew, that was close.” he is relieved, and his grip on you loosens. You decide that this enclosed space was not a good idea, so you crawl back out and wait for him to follow.

You wonder about how you’ve already grown comfortable with the idea of accepting this illusion. This time you were prepared and ready for something crazy like this.

You avoid looking at him because your face feels like it's on fire from being so close to him. The feeling of embarrassment is overshadowed by the sudden realization that those were fans. Zen loves fans, so why was he running away from them?

Just as he emerges from the tree, a look of recognition pass over him and his dull red eyes seem to lighten up a little.

“Wait a minute, you're that ghost girl Yoosung met!”

Whatever awe like state you had earlier from his beauty is now gone because you glare at him for that comment.

“I’m very much alive, thank you very much.” You pull out your phone and show him the selfie with Yoosung.

“See, that’s me alive in a photo with Yoosung. Ghosts can’t take photos like that.” You grumble at him, and he takes a look at your phone.

“Well MC, it's nice to meet you I’m Zen. Can I say you’re adorable in person.” he winks.

You feel the heat coming back to your cheeks, and you mutter a quick thanks. You decide that since it was safe enough to head back. You gesture for him to follow your lead back, he does so without complaining.

As you walk you ask him why he was running away from those fans.

“Well, I usually love taking the time to take pictures and answer questions. But that group, in particular, have tried to cut my hair on multiple occasion and have tried to give me baked goods with pieces of their hair in it.”

You stop suddenly and turn around to stare at him in disbelief.

“Yeah, I’m serious, and they have tried to break into my place once.” Zen runs his hands through his hair, and his expression is both upset and betrayed.

“I know they’re your fans, but they have to respect you as a person, not like a weird god.” You blurt out without thinking. Zen turns his full attention back to you, and you notice it again, his eyes are getting brighter than before. The surprised look on his face fades back to a relaxed smile, and he looks like he wants to say something but chooses not to.

You ask him about all the plays he’s been in and his speech is rapid that you almost have a hard time keeping up with him. He tells you about his work in live theatre and why he prefers it over movies and television.

“Every night is different and the whole energy of the room changes based on your performance,”

Zen is more lively and you notice that his answers aren’t like a practiced actor anymore, he reminds you of an enthusiastic kid. You tell him about your own acting experience from high school and how you enjoyed improv before.

“You should do a reading with me! Or an improv session,”

You shy away from the idea, it’s been awhile since you even acted and that was just for school. Plus he was a trained professional that people were losing their minds over in that world. He pleads for just a reading then. You know that the chances of ever seeing Zen after this is slim, just like how you knew that you may never even see Yoosung again.

“I guess, if we ever have the chance to.”

He looks at you with a small frown and reaches out to take hold of your hand claiming that he didn’t want to get lost from you. His hands are warm and alive, it feels like he’s the one checking if you’re real or not.

You look away, you notice the bag in your hand was crumpled and in bad shape. The sweets must have gotten smooshed from all that running and hiding! And you didn’t even notice because your adrenaline was pumping at the time.

Pulling your hand away and opening up the bag, you pray that maybe this is like the pumpkin incident and your precious sweets are safe but alas it was not. The cake looked like it had taken a great fall and you could only imagine how the macarons looked. Well, there goes that picture you were planning on taking later of it.

“Hey is everything okay,” he asks, you hand the bag to Zen and have him take a look at the desserts.

“I’m really sorry about this MC, this happened because you were helping me run away from those fangirls.” You shake your head at him and give a reassuring smile and continue staring at the treeline. Wait was the distance-

Your thoughts are interrupted by Zen, “How about you let me replace that for you, I know a nice cafe that I think you’d like.”

Did Zen just ask you out?! It was one thing dealing with it in the game in the form of texts but hearing it in person.

“Let’s just focus on getting out of the forest first.” Something is wrong, this feels like the last time in the forest, but that time it led you to Yoosung. This time you were lost in it with Zen, where did this magic want you to go.

Looking around frantically, you lose your cool for a moment and sprint in the opposite direction. You pull out your phone and test the reception again but like last time the call wouldn’t even go through.

“Hey aren’t we going the wrong way?” Zen catches up to you in no time and takes hold of your arm.

“It’s like before...” you look up at him and begin explaining what happened last time about the endless forest and how the only way to get out was to walk the opposite direction. You were scared he wouldn’t believe you about this magical forest nonsense and write you off as a crazy fan girl trying to spend time with him.

Instead, he places his hands on your shoulders and gives it a tight squeeze. “Hey, it’s okay. I believe you.” His words are sincere, and it feels like you can breathe again. He follows your lead and walks deeper into the woods.

It doesn't take long before the forest seems to end and open up into a meadow but is that a tea party in the middle of it?

“Is that a party in the middle?” Zen asks the same question you had been thinking.

“ I think we’re supposed to attend?”

In a very Alice in Wonderland style enthusiasm, you run towards the tea party and find no one there. Taking a seat, you help yourself to desserts and pour a cup of tea for Zen and yourself.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Zen takes a seat beside you.

“I think so,” shrugging your shoulders, you take a sip of the dark liquid. It could be poisoned for all you knew, but you were just so tired and hungry from walking so long in the cold.

The tea is warm, and the strong scent of bergamot hits your nostrils and you feel at home.

“Earl Grey,” you mutter then sigh, content with the drink. You pick up the fork and take a bite of the cheesecake.

“Zen, you have to try this!” You exclaim and watch him with less enthusiasm take a bite. He perks up and closes his eyes in bliss.

How in the world did Zen manage to both look innocent and seductive from just eating cake? You shake those thoughts away and return your attention back to the cake and tea. Pouring from the other pots and cutting tiny slices from the other cakes you begin to stuff yourself.

It feels like hours of just eating and drinking cake but you ask him all sorts of questions about his life and in turn he asks about yours. It felt nice to chat with someone who listened as intently as him.

His elbow is on the table as he rests his face on his hand. He listens to all your stories about your work and friends. The Zen you are talking to now is looking at you differently, like you were made of magic. His eyes are like a polished jewel, bright and shimmering with an emotion that you didn’t recognize. But he laughs at your jokes and even starts calling you Princess in the conversation.

“I don't really think I’m a damsel in distress,” You were unhappy with being called that.

“Well, then should I call you my saviour or better yet my Queen? Since you have a knack for being right and telling me what to do.”

You choke on your cup of tea, what the heck kind of response was that?! You decide to change the topic and ask him about the RFA.

Since you had already heard about the RFA from Yoosung it would be okay to bring it up again. You would just have to be careful with the information you knew, only vague questions about them that Yoosung revealed.

You know it would hurt him if he knew that you were that MC avatar that went missing and you couldn't imagine how painful it would be if he knew that you played everyone's route to learn all their stories.

You ask Zen about the pumpkin field incident and about Yoosung.

“It’s been a few days since it happened, but Yoosung is really shaken up about it. We thought you were a ghost of some sort, but he had a photo of you,” Zen’s fingers tap on the table in confusion at the recent incident.

“We had our friend 707 try and find more information about you, but nothing was coming up.”

You put the fork down and stare at the piece of cake, ashamed at the distress you caused them.

“Can you tell him, I’m sorry.” the words come out as a whisper and you feel your heartache like glass was piercing it and making it shatter.

“I wish I could have said goodbye,” frowning you look up and see how close Zen is leaning to you.

“It’s okay, I’ll explain everything to him and how this magic works.” He cups your face in his hand and brushes away a crumb on your lip. The practiced expression he had earlier is completely replaced now with an honest one.

“Thank you,” You say, afraid to say anything more.

He lets go, and you see the conflicted expression pass his features again. You remember your phone and decide to take photos of this party and Zen. This was something that you wanted to show your friend later when you got home.

Zen was a natural at being a model and had some fantastic candid shots. Even the goofy ones of him holding the teacup pinky up looked good.

“Your turn!” Zen chimes in and takes out his own phone and begins snapping photos of you. You’re confident that the pictures look terrible compared to his, but you try to be positive and pose anyways.

“Okay, time for a selfie. So I can send it on the messenger later!” Zen wraps his arms around your shoulders and pulls you close. The camera click from his phone goes off, you hand your phone to him and ask for a photo as well.

You’re sure that in both pictures you’re a tomato and Zen in all his beauty looks like a perfect sculpture.

“Thanks,” you pull away and help yourself to another cup of tea.

“Mc, can I get your contact information as well?” You look at Zen confused. He knew that your phone number didn’t work. He seems to be reading your mind when he replies back in an instant.

“You never know, maybe one day it’ll work.”

You chuckle and grab his phone. It’s older than Yoosung’s and loads a little slower, but you put in your information and hand him your phone as well. Zen has a little trouble figuring out your phone but manages to type in his information as well.

“How are the Halloween plans coming along?” You ask out of the blue.

Zen is just as excited as Yoosung about this party, he talks about what everyone is planning on wearing and how V had promised to attend this time.

He grumbles a bit about Jumin and the possibility of bringing the furball the party. Jumin was worried that Elizabeth would be scared being alone on Halloween. You chuckle as he begins sneezing at just mentioning Elizabeth, and you can’t stop the massive grin on your face when you hear about how 707 and Yoosung were planning on pranking each other.

“Poor Jaehee, she has so much to do… If only our party planner were still here…” Zen trails off, and you freeze at his words.

“Has there been any news about her?” You ask him. He looks at you surprised that you knew about it.

“Did he talk about her to you?” he avoids your eyes and looks away at the distance. His hand grips the teacup tightly and you worry it will shatter under the pressure. So it was because of MC avatar going missing that he carries himself in this sort of flirtatious but distant manner.

“A little, I’m sorry about your loss.” You wanted to tell him the truth about MC and that it was you but you held back.

“I know we’ll find her someday,” his tone is firm on the fact, and you have to look away from those piercing eyes. There was still no news on the avatar you played as during those 11 days.

“You know you kinda remind me…” he stops himself from finishing that sentence. He doesn’t want to compare you to the MC avatar party planner he knew.

“Well, for now, we’ll just have to continue throwing parties until she comes back,” he says instead.

“I wish I could go to this party, ” you whisper into the cup of tea. Zen’s large hand covers yours, and you meet his gaze.

“Me too,” his grip tightens and as you blink you see the tea party fading away. Your eyes brim with tears as you find yourself sitting alone at the Gazebo.

“Goodbye Zen,” you say to no one. Everything was back to normal again, the dream had abruptly ended just as quickly as you found him. You look up at the sky wondering why this was happening to you. It was during this melancholic thought that you realized that your hat was still missing. You stand up and look around for it but find no sign of it, that could only mean one thing. Zen still had your hat! You open your phone and scroll through your camera roll once more.

Your photos are there just like last time.

You open up your chat with your friend and send her a message.

_It happened again._

You send her the photos of Zen and the one you took with him. Looking up at the sky you hope that you’ll have the chance to cross paths with the RFA again.


End file.
